Doing Roll Film In Trays

[David Hall]

If I wanted to develop by inspection 6x12 or 6x17 negatives from a roll, in a tray, is there a way I could cut the individual negatives before developing, and know that I have not cut through an image? I am thinking that the arrow start mark on roll film makes every roll uniformly spaced, but I can't figure out how to measure in total darkness without risking scratching or dusting the film or cutting images.

Thoughts?

dgh

 

[Frank F]

Not likely that it can be done practically. The roll film cameras use rollers to control position, and it is not relaibe..... It is best to "burn" the roll for 1 image, if the scene is that important.....

BTW, a 5x7 camera can make beautiful 6x17 negs... just use a full sheet of 5x7 film and cut out the middle ssection of the neg... or crop it....


Frank

 

[Jorge]

I know this is not the answer you want but why dont you get the bender film holder for two 4x10 images. I imagine making a jig to cut the film down the middle would be easier than making a jig for roll film.

 

[Aggie]

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[Robert]

Didn't somebody make backs to allow two photos on one 5x7 negative. You'd pull first one slide then the other. I wonder how hard it would be to modify a film holder to do the same thing.

 

[Tom Perkins]

David,
I saw John Sexton demonstrate a roll film tray he fashioned from plastic rain gutter material of the length of the entire film, and the end caps. It is fairly easy to work with. Then you can cement some plastic clips inside at the ends. You could probably make 3 of them for less than $20.

 

[David Hall]

Thanks, all.

Aggie's very practical answer makes the most sense. I have a cracked darkslide for the 8x10 that I have been meaning to make into a 4x10 slide, so I have already thought about making sheetfilm panoramic.

The reason for the rollfilm question is that there are some films that just don't come in sheets, and I got the 6x12 rollfilm back specifically for that reason. I use Pan F and D3200 sometimes. Ed Buffaloe's site shows pyro times for D3200 that really do make the film great at a higher speed than any sheet film that I know of can attain. And since most of my work is portrait work, speeds are always an issue.

Thanks!

dgh

 

[Aggie]

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